Danny Phantom
Danny Phantom is an American superhero animated series created byButch Hartman for Nickelodeon. It was produced by Billionfold Studiosand distributed in Canada by Nelvana, a Canadian animation company. The series follows a teenage boy who, after an accident with an unpredictable portal between the human world and the "Ghost Zone", becomes a human-ghost hybrid and takes on the task of saving his town (and the world) from subsequent ghost attacks using an evolving variety of supernatural powers. He is aided in his quest by his two best friends, and later, his older sister, who for most of the series' run are among the only people who know of his double life. The series premiered on April 3, 2004 at 9:30 p.m. with its first episode airing after the 2004 Kids' Choice Awards, and ended on August 24, 2007, totaling 53 episodes over the course of three seasons. With fiveAnnie Award nominations, Danny Phantom has received critical and audience acclaim, with praise primarily directed at its ensemble cast andcomic book-influenced themes and storyline. Hartman himself has noted that the series is arguably his most popular and acclaimed work, despite its relatively short production life compared to The Fairly OddParents.2Danny Phantom has spawned video games, home video releases, toys, and various other merchandise. Premise Danny Phantom centers on the life and adventures of Daniel "Danny" Fenton, a 14-year-old boy living in the small town of Amity Park. He lives with his ghost-hunting parents, Maddie and Jack, and his overprotective but caring 16-year-old sister, Jazz (short for Jasmine). Upon pressure from his two best friends, Samantha "Sam" Manson and Tucker Foley, Danny decides to explore the Ghost Portal created by his parents in their attempt to bridge the real world and the Ghost Zone (the parallel universe in which ghosts reside) which, when plugged in, failed to work. Once inside, he inadvertently presses the "On" button (which his parents failed to do), thus activating the Portal and infusing his DNA with ectoplasm, transforming him into a half-ghost.3 Danny, who calls himself "Danny Phantom" in ghost form, develops the ability to fly, to become invisible, to become intangible, and to "overshadow" (possess and control) people after first learning how to switch back and forth at will between his ghost and human forms. Over time, he develops much stronger abilities, such as his Ghost Ray (a concentrated blast of energy he fires from his hand), his Ghostly Wail (an intensely powerful scream with sonic capabilities that knocks back anything caught in its path), and even cryokinesis. Danny is initially frightened by his new abilities and has little control over them, but he soon learns to use them to protect his town from malevolent ghosts. Danny turns to the life of a superhero, using his powers to rid his hometown from the various ghosts who plague it and are almost always brought into the world thanks to the sporadic activation of the Fentons' Ghost Portal. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz are Danny's primary allies in his ghost-fighting activities.4 Danny's ghost form is a polarization of what he looked like when he first entered the Ghost Portal. When he "goes ghost", his black hair turns white, his blue eyes turn green, and the black-and-white jumpsuit he was wearing during the accident appears in negative color, with the originally white areas of the suit appearing black, and vice versa. In the premiere episode of season two, a ghost grants Sam's inadvertent wish that she and Danny had never met; in consequence, Danny loses his ghost powers, as Sam had primarily been the one to persuade Danny to investigate the Portal in the first place, which led to the accident. Sam then persuades the now fully human Danny to regain his powers by re-enacting the accident. This time, before Danny enters the Portal, Sam replaces the logo of his dad's face on the jumpsuit, which she also had removed the first time (if she hadn't, it would have been part of Danny's ghost form), with her newly designed "DP" fused-letter logo on the chest so that it appears when he goes ghost from then on. Danny faces threats of many kinds, including vengeful ghost hunter Valerie Gray who, for a short period of time, becomes his love interest,5 an enemy half-ghost Vlad Masters, an old college friend of his father's and considered to be Danny's true arch-rival,6 and even his own parents who, as ghost hunters, view Danny Phantom (and any other ghosts) as a menace to society. In addition, Danny tries to keep his secret safe from his classmates, teachers, and family. Throughout the series, Danny slowly realizes his own potential and purpose, while both worlds slowly begin to accept him as their defender. Episodes Season 1 (2004–05) Season 2 (2005–06) Season 3 (2006–07) Internet short Characters * Daniel "Danny" Fenton / Danny Phantom (voiced by David Kaufman) is the series' titular protagonist. Danny is a 14-year-old boy who gains ghost powers in a lab accident when he steps into and activates his parents' Ghost Portal. Now half-ghost, he chooses to use his powers to fight against malevolent ghosts who have begun to regularly escape the mysterious Ghost Zone and plague his hometown of Amity Park.4 A rather unpopular student in high school along with his friends, Danny also faces the typical hardships of a teenager, but with the additional challenges of protecting Amity Park from frequent ghost attacks, learning to control his ghost powers, and maintaining his secret identity as "Danny Phantom." An ongoing story arc is his struggle to use his powers for the benefit of others rather than abuse them for his own needs, though he ultimately makes the right decision with the help of his friends. Despite frequently struggling with self-confidence, Danny values his altruism and comes to appreciate his own self-worth. 789 * Samantha "Sam" Manson (voiced by Grey DeLisle) is Danny's female best friend and eventually girlfriend at the end of the series; she is also responsible for the accident in which Danny gains his powers. She is a self-proclaimed Goth who is also a practitioner of a dramatized form of vegetarianism called "Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarianism"4 (often generalized as "not eating anything that had a face") and is an amateur activist, often protesting about environmental issues and animal rights. At first, she is Danny's closest friend; however, her feelings for Danny strengthen over time. She eventually falls in love with him but cannot bring herself to tell him for fear of ruining their friendship. Her patience pays off, as Danny secretly falls in love with her as well; they ultimately share their true feelings with each other and become a couple.71011 * Tucker Foley (voiced by Rickey D'Shon Collins) is Danny's male best friend, a nerd who is obsessed with technology and carries a PDA at all times. When not obsessing over gadgets, he obsesses over girls.12 Like Sam, he shares in Danny's secret and often helps battle ghosts and send them back into the Ghost Zone. He generally provides comic relief.13 Tucker's gadgets are sometimes redundant but, ironically, work well in the Ghost Zone or against ghosts. Tucker and Sam frequently handle the toils and triumphs of aiding Danny, especially when he's "going ghost."14 * Jasmine "Jazz" Fenton (voiced by Colleen Villard) is Danny's somewhat overprotective but loving older sister, an intelligent and highly sociable overachiever who considers herself an adult. Jazz views her parents' obsession with ghosts as a sign of needing psychological help.415 She eventually learns about Danny's powers,16 but chooses not to reveal her knowledge until he is ready to talk about them with her. * Jack Fenton (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is Danny and Jazz's father and Maddie's husband. Jack expresses an obsession with destroying ghosts, blindly holding the belief that all ghosts are evil and must be destroyed, including Danny Phantom.17 He is generally incompetent in nature, but can be an effective fighter when provoked.171819 Jack cares about his family but does not know about Danny's powers.415 He is almost never seen without his orange jumpsuit. * Maddie Fenton (voiced by Kath Soucie) is Danny and Jazz's mother and Jack's wife. She is a gifted genius and dedicated hunter of ghosts, though she usually aims to dissect and study them rather than destroy them.15 A ninth-degree black belt, she is an excellent, competent fighter from whom Danny probably inherited his own talent for combat.1820 Like her husband, she does not know about Danny's powers and is almost never seen without her blue jumpsuit. * Vlad Plasmius (voiced by Martin Mull) is Danny's nemesis throughout the series. Vlad had attended college at theUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison with Jack and Maddie until Jack's prototype Ghost Portal beamed ecto-acne into Vlad's face, giving Vlad ghost powers and ruining his social life. Half-ghost for 20 years, Vlad has much more experience with his ghost powers than Danny. Vlad serves as the main antagonist throughout the entire series as he always tries to steal Maddie away from Jack and to persuade Danny to join his side and destroy his friends. He first appears in "Bitter Reunions." Cast Main cast * David Kaufman as Daniel "Danny" Fenton / Danny Phantom * Grey DeLisle as Samantha "Sam" Manson, Star (1st voice), Valerie Gray (1st voice), Princess Dora (1st Voice). * Rickey D'Shon Collins as Tucker Foley * Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Jasmine "Jazz" Fenton, Vid * Rob Paulsen as Jack Fenton, Nicolai Technus, The Box Ghost, Download * Kath Soucie as Maddie Fenton, The Lunch Lady Ghost (2nd voice), Box Lunch, Grandma Ida Manson * Martin Mull as Vladimir "Vlad" Masters / Vlad Plasmius Additional cast * June Angela as Principal Ishiyama and Shelly Makamoto * Will Arnett as the Ghost Writer * Dee Bradley Baker as Wulf, Observant#1, Prince Aragon, Mikey, Gregor, Nathan, Thrash * William Baldwin as Johnny 13 * Maria Canals-Barrera as Paulina * Susanne Blakeslee as Dora Mattingly (2nd Voice), (Dorethea the Dragon Ghost) (2nd Voice) * Dave Boat as Vortex * Kimberly Brooks as Mrs. Foley * S. Scott Bullock as Dash Baxter, Klemper, Mr. Jeremy Manson, Hotep Ra, Ghost Dog, Dairy King, Operative O,Agent Alpha * David Carradine as Clockwork * Brian Cox as Pariah Dark * Jon Cryer as Freakshow * Michael Dorn as Fright Knight * Peri Gilpin as Desiree * Mark Hamill as Undergrowth * Patricia Heaton as The Lunch Lady Ghost (in "Mystery Meat") * Bob Joles as Frostbite * James Garrett as Nocturn * Phil LaMarr as Mr. Maurice Foley * Taylor Lautner as Youngblood * Peter MacNicol as Sidney Poindexter * Danny Mann as Amorpho * Krista Swan as Dani Phantom (in "D-Stabilized") * Phil Morris as Damon Gray, Observant#2 * Laraine Newman as Mrs. Tetslaff, Mrs. Pamela Manson * Daran Norris as Bullet * Mathew St. Patrick as Skulker (1st Voice) (in "One of a Kind," "Bitter Reunions," and "Prisoners of Love") * Ron Perlman as Mr. Lancer * Dat Phan as Kwan (1st voice) * Chynna Phillips as Kitty * Kevin Michael Richardson as The Dragon Ghost (except in "Beauty Marked"), Skulker (2nd Voice) ("Life Lessons" onwards for the rest of the series) * AnnaSophia Robb as Dani Phantom (in "Kindred Spirits") * Eric Roberts as Dark Danny/Dan Phantom * James Sie as Kwan (2nd voice) * April Stewart as Pandora * Tara Strong as Ember, Penelope Spectra, Tiffany Snow, Star (2nd voice) * Cree Summer as Valerie Gray (2nd voice) * James Arnold Taylor as Walker * Jim Ward as Bertrand, Operative L Home media DVDs Danny Phantom first appeared on DVD in the Nick Picks DVD sets, appearing in all five volumes212223 and the Christmas special.24 Nick Picks releases Nickelodeon and Amazon.com teamed up to release Danny Phantom and other Nick shows on manufacture-on-demand DVD-R discs available exclusively through Amazon.com's CreateSpace arm. Amazon made the discs, cover art and disc art, and released Danny Phantom Season One and Two on September 16, 2008.25 Despite its claim, older copies of each set only contains thirteen episodes each, the first set including the first thirteen episodes and the second set continuing with the next thirteen. The third Danny Phantom DVD was released on June 9, 2009.26 This set contains the entirety of Season Three, rather than the previous thirteen episode sets, skipping over the rest of Season Two. Later editions of the first two seasons contained the entire first and second seasons of Danny Phantom and were released in November 2009. CreateSpace releases The CreateSpace releases are no longer available with the announcement of Nickelodeon and Shout! Factoryreleasing traditional retail DVD sets of the series. On March 22, 2011, it was announced that Shout! Factory had secured the home video rights to the series from Nickelodeon.27 They released Season 1 in a 4-disc set on September 13, 2011.28 Season 2: Part 1 was released in a 2-disc set on April 3, 2012.29 Season 2: Part 2 was released on August 28, 2012.30 Shout! Factory releases All of the Danny Phantom episodes can be found on iTunes. Video games and merchandise There have been two video games released for the series. Danny Phantom: The Ultimate Enemy (for the Game Boy Advance) was made to promote the then upcoming special "The Ultimate Enemy" with the main gameplay consisting of events from the TV movie. It is a 2D platformer and was released September 8, 2005.34 Danny Phantom: Urban Jungle for both the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS was to promote the Danny Phantom episode "Urban Jungle". It is loosely based on the episode and is strictly a shooter game. It was released September 19, 2006.35 Danny plays one of the main heroes in the Nicktoons Unite! series, appearing in all four games across multiple platforms, Nicktoons Unite!, Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island, Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, and SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom. Danny and other characters have also been featured in other Nickelodeon crossover video games: Nicktoons MLB,Nicktoons: Summer Camp, Nicktoons Basketball for the PC, and Nicktoons Movin' Eyetoy for the (PlayStation 2). He is a playable character in the kart racer Nicktoons Winners Cup Racing (PC) and the latter Nicktoons Nitro developed byRaw Thrills for the arcade.36 Nicktoons: Freeze Frame Frenzy for the (Game Boy Advance), and Nicktoons: Android Invasion (LeapFrog Didj). Danny Phantom has appeared in two mobile games, Nicktoons Mini Golf (USA, www.nick.com) and Danny Phantom: El secuestro de Jazz, available only in Chile. Little official merchandise has been produced for Danny Phantom; however, Viacom licensed a line of Burger Kingtoys for the show in 2005,37 and an official Nicktoons action figure of Danny Phantom was also licensed.38 In October 2005, Scholastic Corporation published a Nick Zone chapter book, Stage Fright, with an original Danny Phantom story written by Erica David and illustrated by Victoria Miller and Harry Moore.39 Danny Phantom also made several appearances in Nickelodeon Magazine, including original comics "Brat's Entertainment!" (featuring Youngblood) and "Seeing Red" (featuring Undergrowth). Reception Critical reception Danny Phantom was well received by both television critics and audiences. The series gathered a cult following. Many audiences have described the series as one of Butch Hartman's best shows, with Hartman acknowledging so as well and even referring to the show as a "cultural touchstone."40 Awards and nominations Influence and legacy Narrative complexity As Hartman has noted on YouTube, Danny Phantom was one of the first animated television shows to demonstrate narrative complexity, incorporating elements of both serialized and episodic storytelling, and has inspired writers of later critically acclaimed animated television shows to do the same. According to Hartman, Story length Hartman notes that "Danny Phantom was one of the first animated shows ever that told its stories in 22 minutes." This broke from a trend used by many other cartoons at the time (such as Hartman's previous show, The Fairly OddParents), which told two 11-minute stories separated by a commercial break.45 Appeal to older audiences Danny Phantom features a teenage protagonist and his experiences in high school, a setting rarely explored in previous animated television shows. As a result, the show has appealed to a wide demographic, attracting young children curious about the high school experience, teenagers who know it all too well, and even adults who watch the show with fond (or sometimes not-so-fond) memories of their own adolescence. Hartman notes, Older audiences have also praised the show for addressing "more mature themes" in a manner appropriate and impactful for younger viewers.46 Cold open in animation Hartman also observes, "Danny Phantom even had a cold open before the titles, and I don't think I've seen a cartoon like that ever since." Music he score to Danny Phantom, composed by Guy Moon, has left a lasting legacy. Hartman notes, Moon supports his score (and theme song) with a prominent bassline and often explores the funk genre, especially in scene transitions. He typically features electric guitar in more action-packed moments, deep brass instruments in darker moments, and electric piano in more tender moments. His score also sometimes includes a theremin, which serves as a ghostly motif. Hartman has confirmed that the bassline in the Danny Phantom theme song was inspired heavily by Queen's 1989 hit song, "The Invisible Man." New content and possible revival "10 Years Later" concept art For years following the series' end, Hartman has teased fans of Danny Phantom of a possible sequel or reboot of the franchise. In August 2016, on YouTube, Hartman released concept artwork for a potential revival while alluding to ideas about what has happened to the characters over the last 10 years.48 In May 2017, Hartman released a second video containing more concept art for characters from the show 10 years later.49 In January 2018, Hartman released a third video containing more concept art for ghost characters from the show 10 years later; in this video, Hartman said that he would be open to buying the Danny Phantom rights back from Nickelodeon.50 Hartman also stated that if this third video receives over 50,000 likes, then he will make a fourth video. "The Fairly Odd Phantom" On February 21, 2017, Nickelodeon released an online animated Danny Phantom short, "The Fairly Odd Phantom," a crossover featuring characters from The Fairly OddParents, T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Bunsen Is a Beast.51 The short was well received by audiences and amassed over 1 million views on YouTube alone within a week of its release.52Following the success of the short, Hartman released an exclusive crossover comic, "Fairly Odd Phantom," based on the short at San Diego Comic-Con 2017. #GoGhostAgain Love for the series has also sparked a social media campaign, "#GoGhostAgain," dedicated to bringing back the series after its ten-year cancellation. In May 2016, Nickelodeon Animation uploaded the Danny Phantom theme song to YouTube and dedicated the song to this campaign via Twitter.53 In February 2017, this campaign was mentioned on the Nickelodeon Animation Podcast by host Hector Navarro and was met with positive responses from the main cast members. Spiritual successor series On July 20, 2017, Butch Hartman announced that he was working on a Danny Phantom-like show for YouTube. The release date for this series, which will serve as a spiritual successor to Danny Phantom, remains unknown. Hartman stated, "I'm working on a series right now that will only be available on YouTube." Hartman also revealed, “It’s going to be a little bit of anime, a little bit in the Danny Phantom range. It won’t be Danny Phantom, of course, but it will be a show like that. It’s still a ways away and we’re putting the pieces together, but the Butch Hartman channel is going to be where I’m bringing more of my series.”55 When Hartman announced his departure from Nickelodeon, he announced he was working on numerous projects, including an original animated series, Elf Detective. This series could be the aforementioned spiritual successor series to Danny Phantom, though Hartman also announced he was working on a project with Pocket.watch.